


Take These Broken Wings and Learn to Fly

by JenTheSweetie



Series: Blackbird [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-26 14:47:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenTheSweetie/pseuds/JenTheSweetie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, It’s Never Summer in San Francisco.  Leonard McCoy moves west after his long-time-coming divorce and adjusts to missing his daughter.  Jim from the other side of the hall and his son David don’t mind when he shows up with dinner on Tuesday nights. </p>
<p>AU/Canon divergence - Jim Kirk got on the shuttle to Starfleet Academy, but Leonard McCoy didn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take These Broken Wings and Learn to Fly

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Blackbird by The Beatles.

The building was older and more rundown than the realtor had said – “charming” and “it’s got character”, Leonard remembered, load of bullshit. But it was only a ten minute walk to the hospital and a five minute walk to the interstate shuttle station, and it had been willing to take him without a reference. So. Here he was, suitcases in hand, stepping out of the slow, grinding turbolift and into the dim hallway of his new home.

He stepped up to the door of apartment 506 and set down one of his bags to pull the old-fashioned key card out of his pocket. He swiped once, twice, three times, until finally the door slid open and Leonard stepped inside.

It was clean, and it was furnished. That was the best Leonard could say for the place, so he didn’t think about it much beyond that. He had three weeks until Joanna’s first visit to fix it up, but for now, after the worst weeks of his life, after saying goodbye to his baby and his job and his whole life, after a shitty shuttle ride that he’d rather forget, he just wanted to settle in with a glass of good whiskey and something mindless on the vidscreen. He’d seen a liquor store at the end of the block, so he grabbed his jacket off the kitchen table and left the apartment.

It was summer, but it was cold. Fucking San Francisco. He pulled the jacket tight around himself, already missing the humidity of Georgia in June. The liquor store was packed to the brim with high quality liquor and real French wine, everything you didn’t usually get from a replicator; Leonard could imagine this might become his one-stop shop on the weekends Jo wasn’t visiting. He took a moment to appreciate the collection of Andorian ales before selecting a whiskey and heading back to his building. He stepped into the lift and stared straight ahead as the doors started to slide shut.

“Hold the lift!”

Leonard reached out automatically and jammed the button. The doors slid open, and a blond man holding a bag of groceries in one hand and clutching a little kid’s hand by the other rushed inside.

“Thanks man – this lift is slow as shi – as all get-out,” the man said, nodding in Leonard’s direction.

“Daddy, you said a bad word,” the little boy said, and Leonard chuckled; he looked about Jo’s age.

“I didn’t,” the man said. “I almost did, but I didn’t, and that’s what counts.” He turned to Leonard and winked. His eyes were bright blue. “Can you hit the 5 for me, David?”

“It’s already lit up,” David replied.

“Oh cool, are you in 506 now?” the man said, turning back to Leonard. “It’s been empty for months.”

“That’s me,” Leonard said.

“You should come by sometime. I love new neighbors,” the man said as the turbolift finally arrived on their floor. “See what I’m saying, this lift is unbelievable, what is this, the 21st century? See you around, man.” The man and his son stepped out and turned left.

“See you,” Leonard said vaguely, turning right.

-

“Welcome home, babygirl,” Leonard said, opening the door and leading Joanna into the apartment. A fresh coat of paint and some pictures on the wall had done more good than he’d thought possible. The place was still sparsely decorated, and the windows still looked out into a dirty courtyard where the building kept their trash recycler, but it looked better than it had three weeks ago when he’d arrived. Leonard put Joanna’s small suitcase down on the floor and turned to face her. “What do you think?”

“It’s – nice,” Joanna said politely, putting her hands behind her back and rising onto the balls of her feet. “It’s small. Is there a backyard?”

Leonard sighed. “No, baby, we’re on the fifth floor.”

“Where’s my room?” Joanna said, poking her head into the hall closet.

“Down here,” Leonard said, leading to the second door off the hall. “It’s – there’s only one bedroom, so when you’re here, it’s all yours. Daddy’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Oh,” Joanna said, looking into the room. “Okay.”

“So what do you want to do?” Leonard said.

Joanna shrugged. “I dunno. What is there to do here? My toys are at home.”

“We can go get some new toys,” Leonard said. “Is that what you wanna do?”

“Not really,” Joanna said sullenly, and Leonard was reminded, against his will, of Jocelyn.

“Do you want to go to the park?” he asked.

“Okay,” Joanna said, shrugging again.

“Get your jacket,” Leonard said. “It’s cold out there.”

-

Leonard sat on one end of the dirty bench at the edge of the park, watching Joanna climb up the jungle gym. 

“Hey 506. You come to the park just to watch kids? That’s creepy as shit.”

Leonard looked up. The blond man from the other end of the hall sat down next to him on the bench as his son, David, ran up to the same jungle gym Joanna was on.

“She’s mine,” Leonard said, pointing to Joanna.

“Oh,” the man said. “Really? I didn’t know you had a kid. I haven’t seen her in the building.”

“She’s only here once a month,” Leonard said, and didn’t elaborate.

“Got it,” the man said. “How’s 506 working out for you? Not a lot of furniture in there. I think the guy who lived there before stole a lot of it.”

“It’s pretty barebones,” Leonard agreed. “But it’s not so bad.”

“Barebones,” the man said affably. “Totally.”

Leonard glanced at him, then back to Joanna. “You got a name, kid?”

“Kid?” the man said. “Fuck you, man, you got what, five years on me?”

Leonard chuckled. “At least. The name’s Leonard. Most people call me McCoy.”

“Really? You don’t look like either one. I’m Jim. Jim Kirk,” he said. There was a peal of laughter from the jungle gym; Joanna and David were side by side, both dangling upside down, their knees wrapped around the uppermost bar.

“Jo, be careful,” Leonard called out.

“Calm down, they’re fine,” Jim said.

“If she falls and hits her head, her mama’s gonna kill me,” Leonard said stiffly.

“They’re kids, they’ll be fine,” Jim said. Joanna swung herself back up to the top of the jungle gym and reached out a hand; David took it, and she hauled him up, laughing. “Damn, five year olds make friends fast. It’s like hey, let’s be upside down together for five seconds, and then bam, they’re set for life.” He shook his head. “If only it were so simple for adults.”

“Yeah,” Leonard said, watching Jim watch his son. “If only.”

They sat in companionable mostly-silence until Joanna, who had refused to bring her jacket, came running back to Leonard, complaining that she was cold.

“Bye David,” she yelled back to the blond kid as Leonard shut the gate to the park behind them.

“Bye!” David yelled.

“Bye,” Jim echoed, and Leonard lifted a hand, briefly.

-

“And then the princess saved the day again, and they all lived happily ever after,” Leonard said, finishing in a whisper. Joanna was asleep; she was tiny, curled up in his big bed, the blue bedspread tucked up to her chin. Leonard kissed her on the cheek and set the book on the table, ready to be read another five times the next night.

He made his bed on the couch in the living room and picked up a PADD with a medical journal he’d been meaning to catch up on. He leaned back on the couch and felt his eyelids grow heavy.

There was a chime from the door. Leonard jumped to his feet, startled, imagining, for one crazy moment, Jocelyn at the door, come to snatch Joanna away in her purple nightgown.

He shook his head and opened the door. Jim from the other side of the hall was there, looking sheepish. “Hey, man. Do you have a wrench?”

“Uh,” Leonard said. “No. I could replicate one, though. Why didn’t you just…?”

“Replicator’s on the fritz,” Jim said apologetically. “Milk when we wanted orange juice, burnt mac-n-cheese, and now twelve hammers in a row and not a single wrench. I can fix it, but I need that wrench, and I don’t want a thirteenth hammer.”

Leonard opened the door wide and waved Jim inside, heading to the replicator in the corner. “You can fix a replicator? Why don’t you just call the landlord?”

Jim shrugged. “I fix things. It’s kind of what I do. I don’t mind.”

“What do you fix? Just replicators?”

“No,” Jim said. “Shuttlecraft, mostly. I work at the station on California and Van Ness.”

“That’s where I picked Jo up this morning,” Leonard said. “Uh – you like working there?” He punched in the code for tools and waited for the wrench to appear.

“Eh,” Jim said. “It’s not what I thought I’d be doing with my life, but I like working with my hands, you know?”

“Yeah,” Leonard said, because he did.

“What do you do?” Jim asked.

“I’m a doctor,” Leonard muttered, feeling absurdly embarrassed.

Jim whistled. “No shit. Why do you live here?”

Leonard shrugged and held out the wrench. “Close to the hospital. And the shuttle station.” He suddenly wanted to be very much alone, and his face must have shown it, because Jim took the wrench and backed toward the door.

“Right,” Jim said. “Thanks for the wrench, Bones.”

“Bones?” Leonard said blankly.

“Yeah, Bones. That’s you. You know, ‘cause you said it was barebones in here,” Jim said, gesturing around. “But it’s not. It’s actually kinda nice.” He waved goodbye with the wrench. “Night.”

“Night,” Leonard said, but the doors had already slid shut.

-

Joanna’s shuttle left at 6:05 on Sunday. By 6:25, Leonard had found his way to his new local dive bar. By 8, he was drunk. At 10:45, they kicked him out.

The turbolift grinded up the shaft in his building. Leonard leaned his forehead against the metal paneling; it was cool on his hot skin. He swiped his card once, twice, three times. It blinked red at him, and he kicked the door. He swiped it again: red.

“Fuck,” he mumbled. He swiped again. “Fuck.” He slammed his fist into the wall and leaned against the door, breathing heavily, trying to hold on tight to something, anything, so the world wouldn’t spin away.

There was a whoosh as a door down the hall opened, and Leonard froze. Jim from the other side of the hall turned the corner.

“Shit, Bones, what’s going on?” he said in a hushed voice. “You’re gonna wake up the whole building, but more importantly you’re gonna wake up my kid, and I swear to god if I have to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar again, I’ll – where’s Joanna?”

“Gone home,” Leonard said.

“Where’s home?” Jim asked.

“Georgia.”

“Ah. Are you drunk?”

“Fuck you,” Leonard rasped.

“So, yeah? Give me your key. What’s your problem, dude, you can’t kick the door open, come on now.” Leonard didn’t protest as Jim took the key card from his hand and swiped it once, very deliberately. It flashed green, and the doors slid open. Leonard all but collapsed through them, making his way to the couch before he sat down heavily.

“You got work tomorrow?” Jim said, following him inside and setting the key card on the kitchen table.

“6 am,” Leonard said. “Bright and early.”

Jim went to the replicator and keyed something in, then brought Leonard a glass of water. “Drink all of this. You’re gonna feel like a sack of shit in the morning either way, but at least this way you’ll be a hydrated sack of shit.”

Leonard considered telling him to fuck off, but took the water instead.

“So she’s only here once a month? That blows,” Jim said matter-of-factly, leaning against the wall. Leonard rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes.

“Yeah,” he said, and almost laughed at how fucking true it was. “It really does.”

“What’s the deal with you and her mom?”

“Is this 20 fuckin’ questions, kid?” Leonard snapped. “I’m a doctor, not an open book.”

“Hey man, I’m just making conversation while you finish that water,” Jim said, holding up his hands as if to say I surrender. “I never leave a drunk man without water.”

Leonard took a slow sip. “We’re divorced,” he said finally.

“That blows, too.”

Leonard took another sip and looked at Jim calculatingly, wondering if he’d found a kindred spirit. “What’s the deal with you and David’s mom? You divorced too?”

“No,” Jim said. “She’s dead.”

“Oh,” Leonard said, feeling like an ass. “Sorry.”

Jim shrugged. “It’s been four years. I’m doing okay. Better than you, anyway.”

“Asshole,” Leonard muttered. He drained the glass and slammed it down on the coffee table. “There. Your work here is done.”

“Cool,” Jim said. “I was gonna go anyway. See you around, Bones.”

“See you,” Leonard said, leaned back onto the couch, and fell asleep.

-

There was a message in Leonard’s comm the next morning.

_Dinner tomorrow at 6? Replicator’s fixed so I promise the mac-n-cheese won’t be burned._

He shook his head and sent back, _Okay. But I want my wrench back._

-

Leonard showed up at 5:55, a bottle of whiskey in hand.

“Oh sweet, apple juice,” Jim said as he ushered him into the kitchen.

“Apple juice?” David said, looking up from his pile of blocks on the floor.

“Adult apple juice,” Jim corrected as Leonard put the whiskey down on the counter. He looked around, taking stock of the place. It was bigger than his own apartment, and appeared to have a second bedroom. The windows in the living room looked out to the street and let in a lot more light. “David, will you set the table? We have a guest, we’re not sitting in front of the vidscreen tonight.”

“Aw, man,” David grumbled, but went to the cupboard and began to unload dishes and silverware.

“I don’t mind,” Leonard said awkwardly, and Jim waved a hand.

“It’s been like two weeks since I’ve had a meal with an adult. You’re actually doing me a favor,” he said.

David was five years old – “Five and a half!” he corrected his father – and he was shy, quiet, thoughtful and nothing at all like Joanna, who was feisty and bossy and talkative, but his presence was comforting and familiar in a way Leonard hadn’t expected. He answered politely when Leonard asked him about school and his friends, but went back to his blocks as soon as Jim would let him.

“He builds stuff like crazy,” Jim said fondly as Leonard turned back to his dinner (mac-n-cheese was just the side dish to roast chicken that Jim had made from scratch). “I think he’s going to be an engineer. Of course he says he’s going to be a scientist like his mom.”

Leonard marveled at the easy way Jim brought up his son’s dead mother. He could barely even think Jocelyn’s name without wincing, and she was still alive.

“What did she do?” Leonard asked quietly.

“Crazy research,” Jim said. “I barely even understood it. She was Starfleet.” He stood up from the table and pulled out two glasses. “We both were, actually.”

“You were Starfleet?” Leonard asked. He didn’t know much about Jim, but from what he did know, Starfleet didn’t fit.

“Yeah,” Jim said, pouring a finger of whiskey into each glass. “For a while. Carol and I met on the shuttle on our way to the Academy. We got married after knowing each other for about three months, and David showed up a year later.” He didn’t go on.

Leonard shifted in his seat as he took the whiskey from Jim. “I thought you seemed pretty young to, uh, have a kid his age.”

Jim laughed. “Yeah, I’m usually the youngest at parent teacher conferences,” he agreed easily. “Male contraceptives – 99.999% accurate and totally convenient, as long as you’re not that .001%.”

“Shit,” Leonard said. “As a medical professional, I apologize.”

“Nah, he’s the best thing that ever happened,” Jim said. Leonard knew the feeling, and it hurt, so he took a sip of whiskey and stared down at the plate for a while.

“About the other night,” he said. “Sorry for disturbing you.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Jim said. “Tough day. I get it.”

“Yeah,” Leonard said. “Well. Thanks.”

“So how are you liking San Francisco?”

Leonard took a deep breath. “To be honest? I don’t think I am.”

Jim laughed. “Why not?”

“For one thing, it’s fucking freezing. Is it always this cold?” Leonard shook his head. “Can’t leave the house without a jacket in the middle of June – it’s not natural.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Jim said confidently.

“I don’t know that I will,” Leonard said. “I’m a Georgia man, born and raised, and this time of year, you should be covered in sweat about thirty seconds after stepping outside on a summer day.”

“Sounds gross,” Jim said.

“It kind of is,” Leonard agreed.

“Why’d you move to San Francisco?” Jim asked. “I mean – I know you’re a doctor, not an open book and all,” and he smirked, “but seems like they need doctors in Georgia just as much as they do here.”

“Thought I could use a change of scenery,” Leonard said, shrugging. “They offered me a job, I took it.”

“You’ll get used to the city,” Jim said. “Once you get past the fog, it’s pretty awesome. I could show you around, you know. I mean, you and Joanna. Next time she’s here,” he said quickly. “If you guys wanted. There are some great parks, and David loves pier 39 – could be a good play date.”

“Sure,” Leonard said. “I bet she’d like that.”

“Daddy,” David said, poking his head into the kitchen. “Is it bath time yet?”

“Just about, kiddo,” Jim said, and turned to Leonard. “You don’t have to leave. It won’t take long.”

Leonard yawned. “I probably go to bed earlier than you do,” he said to David. He stood up from the table and pushed his chair in. “Thanks for dinner.”

“Thank you for the delicious apple juice,” Jim said, following him to the door. “I’ll save it for the next time you come by.”

“Okay,” Leonard said. Jim clapped him on the shoulder, and the doors slid shut behind him.

-

Leonard picked up a lot of shifts at the hospital, but eventually he maxed out his weekly hours, and found himself with a long, empty Tuesday ahead of him. He slept in. He rearranged the smallest drawer in his dresser, the one that held a few of Joanna’s clothes that she’d left when she visited. He walked around his neighborhood, trying to determine which bars and dim sum restaurants and pizza places seemed like they’d be worth trying.

He wandered into the Chinese place across from the playground around dinner, realizing he hadn’t eaten all day. “Chicken chow mein, mushu pork, and fried rice,” he said, looking out the window at the park.

“That all?” the Bajoran behind the counter asked.

“Ye – no,” Leonard said. “Double it.”

He carried the large bag of takeout back to his building and got in the turbolift. As it made its way up to the fifth floor, he wondered what the hell he was thinking.

He had to press the chime on Jim from the other side of the hall’s door twice before it registered. When the doors slid open, Jim was looking over his shoulder, calling, “David, I said turn that down, there’s someone at the door – oh, hey.” He tilted his head. “What’s up, Bones?”

“Anybody here like Chinese food?” Leonard asked, holding up the bag.

“Me!” David said, running up to the door and throwing himself at Jim’s legs. “I do, I do!”

“Me too,” Jim said, grinning. “Come on in.”

-

They talked, and watched the vidscreen, and had a drink, and before Leonard knew it, his lonely Tuesday was over.

It happened the next Tuesday, too. Leonard showed up with takeout, Jim pulled out the bottle of whiskey, they both had a drink and talked about things that didn’t matter: football, work, funny things their kids had done recently. Leonard complained, without fail, about the weather; Jim assured him that it would get “nice” for a few weeks in September.

“Joanna’s here next weekend, right?” Jim asked as he walked Leonard to the door.

“She gets in on Friday afternoon,” Leonard said.

“How about that trip to pier 39?” Jim asked. “David’s been looking forward to it – haven’t you, Davy?”

“Uh huh,” David said, his eyes glued to the vidscreen.

“Sure,” Leonard said. “Three o’clock, Saturday?”

“It’s a date,” Jim said. Leonard’s eyes widened. “A play date. Idiot.” Jim shoved him out the door, and Leonard went back to his small, lonely bedroom, imagining that he could still hear the sounds of Jim and David’s warm, friendly apartment coming in through the paper-thin walls.

-

“Baby, hold still,” Leonard said, forcing the tiny hairband open with his fingers. “Just one more braid and then we’re done.”

“Can I get ice cream at the pier?” Joanna asked, continuing to do everything except hold still.

“Sure,” Leonard said. “I’m sure you can.”

“What about donuts?”

“I don’t know about donuts.”

“What about chocolate?”

“I don’t – Jo, sit still, please, we’re gonna be late, baby, you know we don’t want to be late, can you do this for Daddy?” Leonard wrestled with Joanna’s curly hair until it stayed put in the grip of the hairband, then patted her on the head.

“They’re not even like when Mama does them,” Joanna said, turning her head from side to side to examine her braids.

“I don’t get quite as much practice these days as Mama,” Leonard said. “But I’ll keep working on it.”

It was a few minutes after three before the doorbell chimed. Joanna ran ahead to answer it, Leonard a step behind.

It was David. “Hi Joanna! You’re back!” he said brightly, as if he and Joanna were old friends.

“Yup, just for the weekend,” Joanna said.

“My daddy’s running late,” David said seriously, looking up at Leonard. “And Mr. Bones, he says don’t forget your jacket or you’ll complain about being cold!”

“Mr. Bones?” Joanna said, looking at David curiously. “Who’s Mr. Bones?”

“Your daddy, silly!” David said, and rolled his eyes.

“Does he have his jacket, Davy?” came Jim’s voice from down the hall.

“Not yet,” David called back.

“I’m getting it, I’m getting it,” Leonard grumbled, turning into his closet. When he emerged, Jim appeared in the doorway.

“Hi Joanna,” he said, holding out his hand. “I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m David’s dad, Jim.”

“Hi,” Joanna said, shaking his hand. “You’re late.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

Jim laughed. “Bones, she’s definitely yours.”

“Stuff it,” Leonard said, shrugging on his jacket. “Ready to go?”

-

The kids spent the shuttle ride immersed in a conversation about whether or not the fog that perpetually permeated the city was just fog or was actually an alien life form that liked to make everybody cold. Jim and Leonard sat behind them, trying not to laugh too much. When they arrived at the crowded pier, everybody was suddenly hungry; there was a short, intense debate over whether they should get ice cream or cupcakes (ice cream, despite the cold, eventually won out) and eventually Joanna and David were seated on a bench, licking away at their slowly melting cones.

“Maybe they’ll get married,” Jim said musingly, digging into his own sundae.

“Who?” Leonard asked, watching distractedly as Jim licked a sprinkle off the corner of his mouth.

“David and Jo,” Jim said. “Wouldn’t that be great?”

“Married?” Leonard said. “Jesus, Jim, I can barely handle her going to kindergarten. No need to rush it.”

“I’m going to consider them unofficially betrothed for now,” Jim said. “They don’t need to know, we’ll give them like 10 years to figure it out. Don’t worry, David’s gonna be a great husband.”

Leonard shook his head. “I don’t know if I want to wish marriage on them.”

“It’s not so bad,” Jim said.

“Oh yeah? You get divorced sometime, then you let me know how great marriage is,” Leonard snapped.

Jim raised his eyebrows. “Fair point. My marriage didn’t last long enough to get to that point, so…” he trailed off.

Leonard wanted to jump off the end of the pier. “Shit. Jim. That was a fucking stupid thing to say.”

“It’s okay,” Jim said, and shrugged.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence. David and Joanna burst out laughing as a sea lion popped its head up from the water, barked, and went back down.

“You’re probably right, though,” Jim said, and Leonard startled.

“About what?”

“Marriage,” Jim said. He bit into his cone and stared at the ripples that marked the spot where the sea lion had disappeared. “It’s tough.”

“Yeah,” Leonard said. “That’s an understatement.”

“It would’ve been tough with Carol,” Jim said lightly. “I know that. But sometimes it’s kind of cool that it never was. We only got the good times, you know?”

Leonard didn’t, and he was silent. “How did she die?” he asked quietly. He didn’t want to push, but he didn’t want to ignore Carol’s presence; David and Jim talked about her regularly, but he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to.

“Shuttle training accident near the end of our third year,” Jim said. “Pilot error. Stupid as shit. The other training shuttle crashed into hers as they were finishing the simulation just outside Starbase 1.” He popped the rest of his cone into his mouth. “I was getting out of class. I overheard some cadets talking about a shuttle crash, and that there were nine survivors, but one cadet had died. I didn’t even think it could be – yeah.” He shrugged. “After they told me, I picked David up from the nursery and never went back.”

Leonard stared at him. “Christ. I’m sorry, Jim.”

“Me too,” Jim said. “She was a great mom. And she would’ve been a great Starfleet officer.” He shook his head. “I would’ve been, too, but David wasn’t going to lose two parents to Starfleet.”

“Daddy?” Joanna called from the bench. “Can we go on the carousel?”

Leonard looked at Jim. “There’s a carousel?”

“In the back,” Jim said. “David’s favorite.”

“Let’s go!” David said. He grabbed Joanna’s hand and they took off running down the pier.

“Slow down!” Jim called as he and Leonard took off after them. “See what I’m saying? They’re totally gonna get married. We’re basically already in-laws.”

Leonard got the tickets to the carousel and joined Jim, leaning against the railing.

“Hey,” Jim said, watching the kids as they climbed up onto their animals after a brief argument over who got to ride the tiger and who got to ride the sehlat. “Thanks for asking about her. People usually don’t.” He nudged Leonard with his shoulder.

“Sure,” Leonard said. He nudged back. The heat from Jim’s shoulder radiated through their jackets. As the music started up and the ride began to spin, the sun peaked through the clouds and the chilly San Francisco day started to warm up.

-

Leonard was sleeping off an overnight shift a week later when his comm beeped. He stumbled out of bed and flicked it on.

“Hey, Bones, could you – oh shit, did I wake you up?” It was Jim.

“No,” Leonard lied, running a hand over his face. “Yeah. Overnight shift. What’s up?”

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Jim said. “Forget it, dude, get some sleep.” He looked to his left, then back at the comm screen.

“What’s going on?” Leonard asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Jim said. “It’s fine. It’s just that we’re having an issue with a couple of shuttles and I said I’d stay late, and my friend Gaila, she’s home with David but she has to go.”

“I can watch him,” Leonard said, and fought back a yawn. “’S no problem.”

“Seriously?” Jim said. “That would be amazing. I owe you for the rest of my life.”

“You can buy the takeout on Tuesday,” Leonard said. “We’ll be even.”

“Bones – thanks. Be home as soon as I can,” Jim said, and the screen went blank.

Leonard yawned again and pulled on a pair of jeans and some shoes before padding to the other side of the hall.

A red-haired Orion woman opened the door, and Leonard blinked.

“Uh,” he said. “Hi.”

“Oh, you must be Leonard,” Gaila said, looking him up and down. “Jim wasn’t kidding about you!”

“What?” Leonard asked, nonplussed, and followed Gaila inside to where David was eating dinner at the kitchen table.

“Nothing,” Gaila said. “Davy, I have to go to work, but Leonard’s going to stay here with you until Daddy gets home.” She threw her hair behind her shoulders, and Leonard could tell that if he wasn’t so tired, he’d be turned on by it.

“’Kay,” David said. Gaila kissed David on the forehead and picked up her coat.

“Thanks so much, Leonard!” she called on her way out the door. “Hope to see you around!”

“Yeah, you too,” Leonard said faintly. He stared at the closed door for a minute, then shook his head and turned back to David.

“Where’s Joanna?” David asked, pushing his peas around his plate as if he hoped they might disappear.

“Back with her mama in Georgia,” Leonard said, going to the replicator to get some dinner of his own.

“Why?”

“Because that’s where she lives most of the time,” Leonard said.

“Why doesn’t she live here with you and her mom?”

“We’re divorced. We’re not married anymore.” He wondered why the questions didn’t hurt coming from David.

“Why not?”

“That’s a good question,” Leonard said. “We don’t love each other anymore. We couldn’t get along.”

“Oh,” David said. Leonard wished he had accepted the simple truth so easily; it would’ve saved him a lot of sleepless nights. “Do you love anyone else?”

Inexplicably, Leonard felt his cheeks burn. “No. Not right now.”

“Maybe someday,” David said.

“Yeah,” Leonard said. “Maybe. Eat your peas.”

-

“On Wednesday he ate through three plums, but he was still hungry. On Thursday, he ate through four strawberries, but he was still hungry,” Leonard said. He glanced up from the book to see that David’s eyes had slid shut. “Lights to 5%,” he whispered, putting the book down.

He turned the vidscreen back on and cycled through the news for a few minutes before he felt his eyelids start to grow heavy. He leaned back on the couch.

“Bones.”

Leonard opened his eyes to see a bright blue pair staring right at him. He bolted upright. “What the fuck,” he gasped.

“Shut up!” Jim said, collapsing on the couch next to him and laughing. “God, you’re loud.”

“Jesus, Jim, you scared the shit out of me,” Leonard snapped, rubbing his eyes. “What time is it?”

“A little after midnight,” Jim said. “Did David do okay?”

“Yeah, he was fine,” Leonard said. “He took a ridiculously long bath, but he fell asleep fast. He’s a good kid.”

“Yeah, he is,” Jim said. “Thanks so much for coming. I really owe you one.”

Leonard shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. If I’m home, I’m probably not busy.” He stretched, feeling tired and comfortable and not quite ready to get off the couch.

“You want a drink or anything?” Jim said from the other side of the couch.

“No,” Leonard said. “It’d put me right back to sleep.” They lounged in silence, and then Leonard stirred. “Hey, you probably want to get to sleep.”

“Yeah, sure, it’s me who wants to sleep,” Jim teased as Leonard stood up and straightened his shirt. “Look, man – I really appreciate this, tonight. You have no idea.”

“What are friends for?” he said without thinking, and Jim smiled.

“Yeah,” he said. “Exactly.”

-

_JKirk [2261.191 10:05:29]: Got any plans tonight?_  
LMcCoy [2261.191 10:08:02]: Nope  
JKirk [2261.191 10:09:14]: David's with his grandparents overnight. There's a bar I want to show you.  
JKirk [2261.191 10:39:22]: Bones?  
JKirk [2261.191 10:54:08]: Bonessss  
LMcCoy [2261.191 11:16:52]: I'm at work, you impatient infant. You sure you're old enough to drink?  
JKirk [2261.191 11:19:24]: Fuck you. Invitation rescinded.  
LMcCoy [2261.191 11:26:43]: I'm off at 8.  
JKirk [2261.191 11:27:51]: Sweet, it's a play date then.

"What the hell is this place?" Leonard said, looking around. As soon as the door to the bar shut behind them, the room was almost completely dark. Leonard blinked, waiting for his eyes to adjust. 

"It's awesome, right?" Jim said, directing them down a flight of steps to a table next to a waterfall that glowed bright green. "It's been here since, like, the 21st century."

"It's tacky as shit," Leonard said, taking in the wood-paneled walls and old-timey nautical decor.

"They have the best rum selection in San Francisco," Jim said. "Now, I know you're a whiskey guy, but I have a secret - I'm not really. I know, do you just want to leave? Are we not even friends anymore?"

Leonard rolled his eyes. "I'm still sitting here, ain't I?"

"That’s what I thought," Jim said. He called the bartender over and ordered two rum flights, "To start," and winked at Leonard, who gave in to the urge to roll his eyes again.

"How's work?" Leonard asked after a long silence.

"Pretty boring," Jim said. "Way too boring to talk about on my one night out."

"Don't adults talk about work when they go out?"

Jim shrugged. "I don't go out with adults that much."

Leonard didn't either, and couldn't think of anything to say to that. "I didn't know David had grandparents around. Your parents?"

"Nah," Jim said. "My mom comes out at Hanukkah, that's about it for her. She's not really the grandmotherly type." He didn't mention his father; Leonard stowed that away. "He's with Carol's dad. He takes him for a night or two whenever he's planetside. Starfleet," Jim continued, before Leonard could ask.

"You guys get along?" Leonard asked, thinking of Jocelyn's parents, who'd liked him for a while and definitely didn't anymore.

Jim shrugged. "Well enough, considering I didn't stick it out at the Academy. He's already grooming David to follow in his footsteps. _You're a Marcus, Davy - you'll be a starship captain before you know it._ Ask me in a few drinks how I feel about that," he said, and laughed; Leonard couldn't tell if he was kidding.

The bartender arrived with their two rum flights. Jim picked up the first one and nodded at Leonard's. "Bottoms up."

Leonard held his up. "Cheers," he said, downing the shot. He coughed. "Strong."

"Good," Jim said. "Number two!"

-

The bar slowly filled as Leonard and Jim finished their rum flights and then moved on to something frothy that arrived in a coconut.

"This is ridiculous," Leonard said.

"I think you meant to say delicious," Jim said, clinking his coconut against Leonard's.

"So," Leonard said, "That babysitter of yours. Gaila." He whistled between his teeth. "Damn."

Jim laughed. "Yeah, I know, right? I thought I was in love with my babysitters growing up, but David's totally screwed."

"Are you and she...?" Leonard asked, trailing off, trying to squash the nervousness in his stomach.

"Oh, no. I mean, well, yeah, a few times," Jim said. "Duh. Can you blame me? But not for a long time. We're just friends now."

"Too bad," Leonard said easily, wondering why he wanted to say the opposite.

"She's great with David," Jim said. "And great with me, for that matter. Hey, I could totally introduce you, you know, if that's what you were asking for - "

"No, no," Leonard interrupted. "Not at all. I was just curious."

"You sure? You ever been with an Orion? That's some bucket list shit, man, and Gaila's got this amazing thing she does with her - "

"No," Leonard said firmly. "No thanks. I'm not - really looking to date right now."

"Right," Jim said. "Your divorce kinda fucked you up, huh?"

Leonard stared at him. 

"We don't have to talk about it," Jim said, waving a hand. 

"It's okay," Leonard said, and strangely, for the first time, it was. "It was a long time coming. A real long time."

"Yeah?" Jim said, and looked down at his drink. Without Jim's eyes boring into him, Leonard was emboldened to tell the story.

"Yeah," Leonard said, feeling something in his chest that he'd pushed away rise up and rear its head. "Joce and I got married too young. We grew up, and neither of us was who the other thought we'd grow up to be. After a while - well, after a while she joked that all we had in common was that we loved to argue." Leonard shook his head and chuckled darkly. "It got worse, and worse, and – well, I grew up in a house full of fighting, and look where it got me. I'm a grumpy asshole." 

"No arguments here," Jim said.

"Dick," Leonard muttered. "I didn't want to do that to Jo. So, that's it." It wasn't: Leonard thought of his throat raw from screaming, the vase shattering against the bedroom wall, Jocelyn's sobs as he dragged his suitcases down the stairs, the long, sleepless night he spent in his car. Jim didn't need to hear about that. Not yet, at least. He took a long drink, avoiding Jim's eyes.

"It must be tough," Jim said. "Living so far from Joanna."

Leonard cleared his throat. "Yeah. It is. Tougher than I thought it would be. But there was a new job here, and - a change of pace sounded nice. I had a colleague who grew up here and raves about it, he got me a connection at the hospital, and here I am." He looked around the bar. "I gotta say, this isn't exactly what I thought San Francisco would be like."

"A 21st century bar modeled after the Caribbean in the 1700s? What's more San Francisco than this?" Jim said, waving down the bartender. "This city is fucking nuts. I'm never leaving. What do you want to drink?"

"No more coconuts," Leonard said, tilting his drink back to collect the last drops.

"No more coconuts _for now_ ," Jim amended.

-

"Okay so then Gaila - get this - she comms me at work, and she's basically crying, and she goes, 'Jim, you're going to kill me, but he ate something he found under the couch, and it looked like it was alive,'" Jim said. "So I'm like, oh my god, he ate a cockroach, or some kind of alien bug, who knows, so I run home, and she's holding David in the kitchen and crying, and David's crying, and my life is flashing before my eyes, you know? And she says, 'There's another one under there.' So I'm down on my hands and knees, still in my jumpsuit, and I'm trying to move the couch and kind of freaking out, and then she screams, she screams at the top of her lungs, 'Right there!' And you know what the fuck she's pointing at?"

"What?" Leonard asked, trying to focus on Jim's eyes instead of his mouth.

"It was a fucking _gummy bear._ She'd never seen a gummy bear before! Who grows up without ever seeing a fucking gummy bear? Do they actually not have gummy bears on Orion? This woman is a Starfleet warp core engineer and she had a meltdown over a gummy bear. Honestly, I was laughing so hard, I didn't even care how old that shit was."

Leonard laughed loudly, slamming his hand on the bar as Jim wiped tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes. 

"She's the hottest babysitter in the world, though, so I let it go," Jim said. "But sometimes I still hide gummy worms in her purse, she does not like that." He picked up his drink and drained the last of it, then looked up at Leonard with a goofy grin. "Bones, I am drunk."

"Yeah, you are," Leonard agreed.

"So are you," Jim said, knocking into Leonard with his hip. Leonard wondered when they'd migrated from their table in the corner to the bar. He couldn't remember when they'd started standing so close together.

"Nope," Leonard lied. "Not even a little bit."

"Lying liar," Jim said. "Hey, when's Joanna back? Next weekend?"

"Friday night," Leonard said. 

"We should like, take the kids on a trip," Jim said. "To the beach."

"The beach? It's too cold here for the beach," Leonard said dismissively.

"No, we'll go to Santa Cruz - it's like twenty minutes on the shuttle, and it's hot there, and it's amazing, I bet Jo would love it. I bet you would love it." Jim's eyes were shining and glassy, and he looked earnest and hopeful and suddenly so young, and Leonard felt his stomach do a backflip that had nothing to do with the borderline dangerous amount of rum he'd ingested in the past few hours.

"Okay," he said, his voice strange in his own ears. "I'd really like that."

"Awesome," Jim said, and started to tip over. Leonard grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him upright. "Okay, so, I'm trashed. Let's get out of here." He wound his way through the crowd, Leonard following a few steps behind. When they stepped out into the street, it was cold and misty.

"Fucking San Francisco," Leonard grumbled, wrapping his arms around himself. "Is it raining right now?"

"C'mon, Bones, don't tell me you'd prefer the humidity," Jim said, bounding down the street.

"I am telling you that," Leonard said. "Can we catch a shuttle or something? I'm getting wet." 

"It's not that far, let's walk," Jim said. His eyelashes were stuck together, and Leonard blinked and looked away. 

"All right," he grumbled, stepping around Jim and setting off at a fast pace. The sidewalk narrowed, and Jim he stepped down off the curb into the street to catch up with him.

"Will you get out of the street? You're worse than Jo," Leonard snapped as a taxi-shuttle sped by. He reached out and grabbed Jim's elbow, pulling him back onto the sidewalk. Jim stumbled, then righted himself by clutching Leonard's shoulder.

"Sorry," he mumbled, his hands sliding down Leonard's goosebumped arm to encircle his wrist. Leonard shivered, and Jim slipped his hand into place, their fingers interlocked. Leonard looked up to see Jim gazing at him, his lips slightly parted, and turned away. Jim trailed along behind as Leonard took off walking, holding Jim's hand tightly, his head bent against the misty breeze.

They were silent all the way back to their building, their hands clasped together warmly between them, knocking into their hips as they walked. Just outside the front door, Leonard prepared himself to let go, already steeling himself against the cold. As he turned to face Jim, Jim leaned in, and somewhere between the scent of rum on his breath and the dampness in the air making his hair stick to his forehead, the space between them disappeared.

Leonard clung to Jim's hand as their lips met clumsily, briefly; Jim's lips were cold and his tongue was hot. Leonard fought back the spinning feeling in his head, desperate to hold on to the memory, worried the alcohol would wash it away before it crystallized.

Jim pulled back, his face unreadable. "Hey," he said.

"Hey," Leonard choked, trying to catch his breath. "Do you - do you want to go inside?"

"Well, I live here, so, yeah," Jim said, swiping his card to let them into their building.

"I know that, asshole," Leonard muttered, following him into the lift. As soon as it started moving, he took Jim’s face in his hands and kissed him again. He’d never been so grateful for the slowness of the lift as their lips slid together, slick and still chilled from the outside. One of Jim’s hands tangled in his hair, and the rum they’d shared burned the back of his throat.

When the lift opened and deposited them on the fifth floor, Leonard said against Jim’s lips, “My place or yours?”

Jim stepped back and left Leonard grasping at air. He wondered how, in the thirty seconds they’d been kissing, he’d already become accustomed to the pressure of Jim’s lips, could already feel his absence.

“Shouldn’t do this,” Jim muttered, running a hand through his hair. “I – it’s a bad idea.”

Leonard couldn’t argue with that. “I don’t mind bad ideas,” he said.

“It’s – it’s for the best, Bones,” Jim said. “Trust me.” He backed up, heading to the other side of the hall. “I’ll see you around?”

“Sure, kid,” Leonard said faintly, and Jim lifted one hand before turning into his apartment. Leonard let himself into his own and collapsed into bed; he clung to the sheets, trying to stop the world from spinning.

By the time he woke up, mouth dry and head pounding, he’d convinced himself Jim was right, was doing them both a favor by calling Leonard out on his bad judgment. Jumping into bed with his only friend in the city, three months after his divorce – it was a bad, bad idea. He’d had a lot of bad ideas in the past, and he’d paid the price for them, and the emptiness he felt where Jim’s lips had been was just confirmation of what he already knew.

Leonard showed up at Jim and David’s, as scheduled, on Tuesday, this time holding tacos from the Mission. As he stood at the door, he was nervous; maybe Jim had decided he didn’t want to see him at all anymore.

David opened the door. “Mr. Bones!” he said, and flung himself at Leonard’s waist.

“Hey, kid,” Leonard said, ruffling David’s hair. The twisted knot of tension in the pit of his stomach loosened.

“I got a new chemistry set from my grandpa,” David said proudly, grabbing Leonard’s hand and dragging him into the kitchen.

“That’s great,” Leonard said. “You’ll have to show me after dinner.”

“Hey,” Jim said, and Leonard registered a look of surprise on Jim’s face that disappeared as soon as he noticed it.

As they stood at the kitchen counter and unpacked the tacos, he muttered, “What, you think I’d bail on Tuesday nights? Wouldn’t be much of a friend.”

“Yeah,” Jim said. “I’m glad you came. About the other night – ”

“Don’t worry about it,” Leonard said, waving a hand. “It was my fault. Shouldn’t have happened. Too much apple juice. Long day. You know.”

“Right,” Jim said slowly. “So, let’s have some tacos. David, look, Bones remembered to get you cheese only. Bones, this place is great, but you know where they have the best tacos? Santa Cruz. Joanna’s gonna love them.”

“Yeah,” Leonard said. “I bet she will.”

-

Jim swore up and down that it would be hot in Santa Cruz, but Leonard made sure to pack sweaters in his beach bag for himself and Joanna, just in case. Leonard clutched the armrests of the shuttle tightly as they took off; the trip to Santa Cruz was just far enough to get some altitude. As soon as the beach boardwalk came into view, with its high-flying coasters and old-timey games, the kids were plastered to the window. Leonard kept his eyes shut tight, trying to ignore the rushing in his ears as the shuttle touched down, gently, on the tarmac.

“Dude, you okay?” Jim asked as they filed off the shuttle, each holding a bag in one hand and a kid in the other.

“I don’t like shuttles,” Leonard said.

“Daddy’s aveeo – ava – aviaphobic,” Joanna said.

“I had no idea,” Jim said. “Well, next time we come, we’ll just drive.”

Leonard nodded, swallowing hard, his mind tripping over _next time._

Jim hadn’t been lying: it was hot in Santa Cruz. They picked up tacos on the way through town and stopped to play a few games at the boardwalk. Joanna won a small, stuffed Talarian hook spider which Jim assured her was about one-tenth scale. They spread their towels on the sand near the water’s edge and listened as the kids compared notes on how they’d spent their summers so far. Leonard noticed it was easier this time to hear what Joanna had been doing with Jocelyn – much easier than the last two times she’d visited – and he attributed it to the warmth and the smell of saltwater and salsa and the sound of the waves.

When the kids ran off to build sandcastles at the water’s edge, Leonard laid back and pillowed his head in his hands. Jim peeled his shirt off and stuffed it into his bag, and Leonard was glad he was wearing sunglasses.

“Hey,” Jim said, breaking Leonard out of his distracted reverie. “About last weekend.”

“What about it?” Leonard asked, bracing himself.

“I was a total dick,” Jim said matter-of-factly. “I kissed you, and then I totally blue-balled you. Dick move.”

Leonard shrugged, the sand scraping the backs of his shoulders. “Not a big deal, Jim. It happens. We were drunk.”

“Yeah, but,” Jim started, and paused. 

“What?” Leonard prodded.

“I mean – it wasn’t just because I was drunk.” Jim stared ahead at the horizon, and a seagull squawked in the distance. Leonard felt his mouth go dry. “It’s just that – it’s complicated. It’s really complicated.”

“It’s always complicated,” Leonard said. “I told you, don’t worry about it.” He bit his tongue: _you wouldn’t want to get involved with me, anyway._

“Daddy, can we go swimming?” Joanna called, as she and David ran up the slope to where their towels were spread.

“Sure – Jim?” Leonard said, sitting up.

“Just don’t go in too deep,” Jim said.

“Good advice,” Leonard murmured, and they watched as the kids tumbled down to where the ocean met the shore and dived right in.

-

Joanna and David both fell asleep in their fathers’ laps on the shuttle ride home, tired from a full day of sun and sand. Jim kept up a steady stream of distracting chatter as the shuttle landed, and as he hoisted David into his arms for the walk back to their building, he said, “See? Not so bad, if you don’t think about it too much.”

“I guess a lobotomy would do the trick,” Leonard hissed, blowing some of Joanna’s hair out of his face. Joanna wasn’t a baby anymore, Leonard reflected sadly, and by the time they got back to the building, his arms were aching. 

“I need a drink,” Jim said as the lift opened on the fifth floor. “You want to come over?”

“Sure,” Leonard said. “But Jo – ”

“You can put her in with David, his bed’s huge,” Jim said. He fumbled with his key card and let them into the apartment. Once the kids were in bed – “Out like fucking lights, man, I wish I could sleep like that” – Jim poured them both a drink and they collapsed on the couch.

“Shit,” Jim said. “I have sand fucking _everywhere_. Seriously, Bones. You don’t even want to know where I have sand.”

“I can imagine,” Leonard said darkly, shifting in his shorts. “I’m going to be washing it out of Jo’s hair for a week. Or – I guess, Jocelyn will.”

“That’s the spirit,” Jim said. “How is it in my mouth? This doesn’t even make sense.” He took a swallow of whiskey, swishing it around his mouth and wincing as it burned. Leonard watched as he licked his lips.

“I should go,” Leonard said suddenly, standing up. 

“No – Bones – ”

“Just – send Jo home when she wakes up, okay?” Leonard said, backing away from the couch toward the door as Jim leapt up. “I should just – I should go.”

“Wait,” Jim said, taking a step forward, and suddenly Leonard felt himself slammed against the wall next to the vidscreen, the hard paneling pressing into his lower back.

“Wha – ” he gasped, and then Jim caught his mouth in a crushing kiss. He wrapped his arms around Jim’s back and pulled him in so their bodies, still hot from spending the day in the sun, pressed together. 

“Thought you said this was a bad idea,” he murmured, and Jim chuckled.

“It is,” Jim said. “But also a really, really good one.” His tongue swiped Leonard’s lower lip, and Leonard opened his mouth, letting Jim in, wanting to taste the salt on his lips. Leonard grappled with Jim’s shirt, searching for skin, his nails scraping along Jim’s lower back.

“What changed?” Leonard asked.

“You were staring at my mouth,” Jim said, trailing wet kisses along Leonard’s jaw. “Couldn’t handle it.” Leonard gasped as Jim sucked the tender skin below his ear and arched his back.

“Thought we were just gonna be friends,” Leonard said.

“Just friends is overrated,” Jim said, and nipped at his lower lip before pushing his hand under Leonard’s waistband.

“Shit,” Leonard hissed, his knees buckling.

“I gotcha,” Jim said, a laugh in his voice as he wrapped his hand around Leonard’s cock.

“Bastard,” Leonard said. “It’s been – _fuck_ – a really long time – ”

“No explanations necessary, man,” Jim said against Leonard’s lips. Leonard took the opportunity to cup Jim through his pants, and Jim moaned. 

“Shut up, you’re gonna wake the kids,” Leonard muttered, and Jim laughed.

“David can sleep through a hurricane,” he said. “You just worry about yourself.” He began to stroke quick, rough strokes, his wrist pressing up against Leonard’s hip. Leonard felt his climax building quickly – it _had_ been a long time, the last few months of his marriage hadn’t exactly been a great time in the bedroom – and he slipped his hand into Jim’s shorts, trying to get a grip before he lost control. 

“Oh, shit,” he whispered, bucking against Jim’s hand. “Jim, fuck, I’m – ”

“Yeah,” Jim said breathlessly. “I know, come on – ”

With Jim’s hand still wrapped around him, Leonard seized, coming all over their stomachs. He maintained his pace for Jim, mouthing wetly at Jim’s neck, and a minute later Jim was shaking, too.

They continued to lean against the wall, breathing heavily, Jim with his head buried in Leonard’s neck, Leonard’s mind empty and peaceful.

“Shower?” Jim whispered in his ear. “You know – because of the sand.”

“Sure,” Leonard said, following Jim to the bathroom. They undressed silently, eyes drinking in what they hadn’t had time to see up against the wall. They showered, hands roaming, shaking sand from their hair and watching as it swirled down the drain.

“I should get Jo to her own bed,” Leonard said as he re-dressed in the bathroom. “She’ll freak out if she wakes up here.”

“Yeah, okay,” Jim said, pulling on a clean t-shirt and shorts. He helped Leonard ease Joanna out of David’s bed and walked him to the door. Leonard didn’t know what to say – _thanks for the hand job against the wall, I guess I’ll see you around_ didn’t seem to quite cover it – so he just waved and left.

-

Leonard didn't know what to expect on Tuesday when he showed up with two pizzas - a large everything and a small cheese. He wondered, inexplicably, if David would be able to tell that something had changed; he wondered if anything really had.

"You're late," Jim said as he opened the door.

"Paxti's was packed," Leonard said, shoving the pizzas into Jim’s hands. "Hoping I wouldn't show up?" He raised an eyebrow. It was a challenge, a question. 

"I knew you would," Jim said, but he sounded relieved as he set the pizzas down on the table. Leonard pulled plates out from above the sink and helped himself to a beer from the replicator.

"Anyway," Jim said quietly, "Could you really stay away from _this_?" He smirked and waved a hand in front of his own body. 

"Arrogant son of a - "

"Davy, dinner's ready," Jim interrupted, grinning.

After dinner they sat on the couch watching some old movie from the '20s, David squished between them on the couch. Leonard watched as they both laughed, their faces lit by matching smiles. Jim looked over and met his eye, and Leonard looked away, embarrassed to have been caught. Jim reached up and draped his arm over the back of the couch and let his fingers graze the back of Leonard's neck, drawing spirals on the sensitive skin, and Leonard ignored all of the jumbled thoughts in his head and just leaned in to the touch.

**Author's Note:**

> I live in San Francisco, and may have slipped in a few references to my favorite places. This can stand alone, but there is a part 2 coming very shortly. Thanks so much for reading.


End file.
